Melbourne-based artist Chitra shares her long-awaited debut album You Can See It When It’s Dark, a ten-track collection that captures the emotional complexity of growing up, growing apart, and learning to stay close to yourself. Out now via independent release, the record brings together six previously released singles – ‘Autumn’, ‘Big Shot’, ‘In My Opinion’, ‘Close Proximity’, ‘Go Easy’ and ‘Motormouth’ – with four brand new tracks ‘You Can See It When It’s Dark’, ‘Counting’, ‘No Blame To Take’ and ‘Sold’. LISTEN HERE.

Four years in the making, You Can See It When It’s Dark is the sound of an artist coming home to herself. “This album was born from personal transformation, creative risk, and emotional release,” Chitra shares. “It spans a period of intense change for me. Some of the songs came out fast, and others took years. But each of them holds a part of that process.”

Produced by John Castle (Cub Sport, Angie McMahon, Hatchie), the album moves between soft, interior moments and bold, guitar-driven swells. What ties it all together is Chitra’s voice; clear-eyed, expressive, and grounded in feeling. Whether she’s writing from a place of anxiety, nostalgia, or quiet hope, her songs invite the listener in without over-explaining. “There’s a thread of contradiction running through the record,” she says. “It’s about strength in being both hard and soft. Friendships that feel like love. Comfort in chaos. Those conversations you’d rather avoid but desperately need.”

The album’s title track, ‘You Can See It When It’s Dark’, paints one of those exact moments: standing next to someone you once loved in a crowded room, feeling the echo of what used to be. “It’s a very visual song for me,” Chitra explains. “You go to a show, stand next to someone you once loved, and live in that nostalgia for a second before breaking contact. I think I’m someone who doesn’t let things go easily, and this song captures that – the way a feeling can drag on long after something has ended.”

Elsewhere, ‘Counting’ explores the quiet disconnection between two people going through the motions but avoiding the inevitable. ‘No Blame To Take’ looks at unresolved conflict with a kind of calm acceptance – stepping back, recognising fault on both sides, and letting it sit. “Blame isn’t black and white,” she says. “There are so many layers to how we hurt each other and try to move on.”

Then there’s ‘Sold’, which brings the album’s emotional arc full circle. Written during a period of deep doubt about music and creativity, it asks a question many artists have faced: Is it worth it? “I was burnt out,” Chitra says. “I found myself wondering if a 9-to-5 job would be easier, if walking away would bring me more peace. But the truth is, music isn’t just something I do. It’s part of my foundation. Even if I stopped, the pull to create, to reconnect with that part of myself, would always be there.”

The making of You Can See It When It’s Dark was just as layered as the music itself. Some songs were written in solitude, others came out of co-writing sessions with strangers. The production process moved between Naarm/Melbourne and lutruwita/Tasmania, with long stretches of remote collaboration that gave the record its unhurried, spacious feel.

Raised on the Wadawurrung/Bellarine Peninsula and now based in Naarm/Melbourne, Chitra Ridwan first emerged with her self-titled EP in 2020 – a striking debut that earned praise from triple j, FBi Radio and more. That early release showcased a songwriter with an ear for melody and an eye for human detail. Now, with You Can See It When It’s Dark, she’s stepped fully into her sound: intimate but expansive, emotionally sharp without losing warmth, grounded in instinct over expectation.

“I wrote these songs first and foremost for myself,” Chitra says. “But I hope they reach the people who need them. The ones who feel a bit stuck, or uncertain, or like they’re moving through something without quite knowing how to name it. This record is for them.”